Solar Cells (1980) 109-113
ON SATURATION CURRENT IN SOLAR CELLS: AN ANALYSIS
N.M. RAVINDRA Department of Physics, University of Roorkie, Roorkie-27672, India
BASUDEV PRASAD Department of Earth Engineering, University of Roorkie, Roorkie-27672, India
Received October 22, 1979; Accepted March 14, 1980
Summary: An analysis of the saturation current in solar cells is presented. Based on the equation lg = Aexp(-ET), it is shown that A is material independent and has a value of 2.95 x 10^(-10) A per unit area of 1 cm^2 of the cell. The saturation current in a solar cell can be explicitly related to a solid-state parameter, the OK Debye temperature of the semiconductor. The study also evaluates dlng/dT for various semiconductors at different temperatures. The results indicate that dlng/dT increases with increasing Eg.
1. Introduction
The parameters in the Shockley [1] equation lg = Aexp(-EAT) are determined by material properties and junction configurations. This paper presents an analysis of the saturation current in solar cells. The analysis shows that the factor A is material independent and a constant equal to 2.95 x 10^(-10) A per unit area of 1 cm^2 of the cell. Based on the earlier work of Ravindra and Srivastava [2], g can be explicitly related to a solid-state parameter, the OK Debye temperature of the semiconductor. The study also evaluates dlng/dT for various semiconductors as a function of temperature. This study leads us to conclude that with increasing Eg, dlng/dT increases.
2. Evaluation of A
The well-known Shockley [1] expression for the saturation current is given by:
